Some Fathers’ Day Plein Air

Man. This was one of the best fathers’ days I can remember. I woke at 5:30 and drove out to a park that I hoped to paint at and it was closed until 10:00. So I drove to a park that does not close in Mishawaka and got to paint a bridge instead.

Then I took a walk in the Shiojiri gardens nearby and thought about my time in Okinawa (22 years ago…). I then went to the Veterans Memorial Park and painted a tree.

After that the park was finally open, so I went to Baugo Creek and walked the trail. I had hoped to paint one more study but there wasn’t really enough time to do that since I wanted to get home and spend some time with my family.

I did see some cool things in Baugo Creek and look forward to returning to paint there in the future.

These swans were not happy that I found them, but it was cool to be so close and to not scare them away.

Summer is here, and I’m going to write like a madman to finish this novel. Then when fall arrives, it’ll be time to find an agent.

I know what I have to do. No one can do it for me. Time to get it done.

Painting Accepted for SBMA Aloft Series

I’m happy to say my new painting “The Rock that Got Away” will be on display at the Aloft Hotel this summer until the fall. Thank you to Cathy McCormick for all her guidance this past year with pastel painting, and thank you to the juror who selected my painting to be included in the show.

Landscape test on colorfix

I liked this paper quite a bit. I had some fun with colors and messed around in the foreground near the end. Likely I’ll just move on to the next paper though. This composition is not my favorite. I did want to include the bridge that was in the reference but this was way too small for me to capture it.

West Yellowstone Landscape at Sunset

Here is a landscape from a photo taken at the West Yellowstone entrance last year. It’s on a 5x7 piece of pastelmat. I do like the way this paper bites the pastel but I actually prefer the canson mi-teinte to this surface. I feel that I can tone the canson and then gesso it if I want to and it will still be quite a bit cheaper and for some reason I just feel more in control on the canson paper. I have done way more paintings on mi-teinte, though. So that could be the main reason for feeling that way.

Another Handell Inspired Rock Formation

I bought the Dakota paper sample pack to give some more surfaces a try. I’ll work on this when I get some time to focus, but I like the way the canson velour bites the pastels and I also like how resistant it is to blending with my finger. I have a tendency to want to soften everything that way and I want to stop doing it so much.

Submissions for Aloft Show Done

I finished up my submissions for the Aloft show. Here is “The Rock that got away” (This is part if my and my wife’s personal collection).

The second one is an Albert Handell inspired painting. It’s called Grumpy Rock, and it is for sale. 12x16 pastel on paper. $385 nit including shipping or framing.

Waterfall in Montana

I did this one with a watercolor underpainting on the mi-teientes paper. I like the way it’s shaping up. Hopefully it’ll be ready in time for the Aloft juried show by June 6th.

Dark and Light from Below

Here’s one inspired by Albert Handell.

Backyard Path Afternoon Sun

This is a view of our path in the backyard that I’m working on. I thought I might do some kind of memorial day painting but the more I thought about it the more I thought that painting these trees and the path that I get to enjoy as a result of all those sacrifices was a better use of my time than painting something forced.

Newest Pine Tree

This is the most recent tree.

St Simons’ Light House

My friend Jeremy Wilson sent a photo from his trip to St Simons that I decided to do a painting from. I made a lot of adjustments but the picture was pretty good on its own. I want to include some more architecture in my work but don’t have a ton of opportunities. The time is nigh though. Or so I hear.

St Simon’s Lighthouse

My buddy took a photo of this lighthouse on St Simon yesterday, and I was hoping to paint some more architecture so I am working on this.

New Old Novel.

I am getting back into this book seriously again, and my hope is to start soliciting agents in the fall. It’s been a long time since I was this motivated to work on it, but I am glad that I have had the time away so that I could look at it with some perspective that I did not have at the time I started it ten years ago. It’s not the same book it was back then, and I think it’s better as a result. It seems to me that not getting the other one finished so that it had the potential to be published was a blessing. My daughters will all be in elementary school next fall, and I am grateful that they are all healthy and that I’ve been here to watch them grow and do things that make me laugh and cry (mostly from joy.) I’m sure it won’t be smooth sailing, but to have a more regular schedule and to have more than 10-18 hours a week to work during daylight hours is really feeling like a gift right now. The summer is upon us, of course. And I am looking forward to a lot of pool time and games and hiking. I am also looking forward to finishing this thing up enough so that I can start knocking on some doors. I wish I could knock on doors instead of emailing, but that’s not how it works.

I’ll still be painting like a madman to try and get a show of these trees and some more stuff related to the war baby series that I am taking a break from, and I’ll still be trying to get into more galleries and so on. But if I don’t finish this book, I will feel like I let myself down, and, as I have said for as long as I can remember, a novel is a problem that we give ourselves; no one is going to write it for me, and no one is going to have a chance to love it or to hate it if it never exists.

Hot Springs in Yellowstone

I started this Yellowstone hotspring painting today. It was overcast and rainy and there was fog. I did the painting on some mi teintes paper that I toned and put some gesso on to see how it would go.

Pastel of Attention Seeking Pines

I’m going to do an oil version of this. It’ll be a lot larger, but this 9x12 pastel version is helpful. The white paper has made it brighter, and I like the way it turned out. I’ll look at this a but more but it’s mostly done. Really looking forward to doing the big oil painting.

Study for Oil Painting of Front Yard Pine

I’m finally getting back into oil painting. This is the drawing I’m doing. I’ll work this up in pastels to try and get the colors figured out. I’ll really want that broken branch to come to the front, so I’ve got some work to do.

Today's Progress

This is based on a tree we saw in Washington State at a park outside Seattle a few years ago.

MAAC Reception and People’s Choice Award

I will be attending the opening reception with my wife tonight, and Betsy Gill sent a note that Jon and Joan Judd are going to match every dollar made from the voting in the people’s choice award up to $1500 dollars. That money will be used to help fund the gallery.

Here is a link to the contest where you can see the art in the show (including mine “Dancing Beech”). Even if you don’t vote for my painting, please consider voting for someone else’s work. It’s a nice way to help the gallery continue to do events like this and to give a space to Michana artists’ work.

If you can make it out there, it would be cool to meet you. I think I’ll have a name tag, so it will be easy to find me.

Here’s today’s progress on a new tree.

Looking forward to getting back into this one tomorrow.

Apprehensive Pine Midday

Here is the finished version of the painting I started yesterday. I got my dark unison pastels and that really helped me to solidify some of the stuff I wanted to do but lacked the greens and reds I needed to do it the way I wanted to. I think I’m set for a while, but I’m sure there will be some color that I “need” down the line.

This one is for sale. 9x12 pastel on paper. 220 dollars without shipping or framing included.